Glendale - An offshoot of medical imaging technology is being deployed to help scientists and engineers at Johnson Controls Inc. build a better battery for hybrid and electric vehicles.

On an oversized computer screen next to a new CT scanner in Johnson Controls' newly renovated battery lab, an image of a large cylindrical object is visible. It's an enlarged image of a lithium-ion hybrid vehicle battery that is less than 6 inches tall.

"This is really important stuff for us because, if you want to understand what's going on inside a (battery) cell, you've got to tear it apart. And in tearing it apart, you've actually started destroying part of what you're trying to understand," said Craig Rigby, vice president of global product engineering for Johnson Controls' power solutions business.

New CT scanning and X-ray equipment at the Johnson Controls battery technology lab was installed as part of a renovation and expansion of the lab that is funded in part by the federal stimulus package.

"This gives us some ability to get some insight as to what's going on inside - to look at the structure, look at the connections inside the cell, without disrupting it or damaging it in any way. This is very important for us to help understand how our technology works, how it performs, how it ages," Rigby said.

The analytical lab is one component of a 46,000-square-foot battery technology lab and expanded testing facility that Johnson Controls opened Tuesday at its power solutions headquarters office at Florist and Green Bay avenues in Glendale.

The project was supported with a portion of a $299 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant that Johnson Controls won two years ago to support its work to help the United States develop an advanced-battery development and manufacturing industry. The company is matching the federal funding, for a total investment of nearly $600 million.

The investment has created jobs for 60 engineers, scientists and technicians here, said Alex Molinaroli, president of the power solutions business.

The stimulus matching funding is also supporting the opening of a new Johnson Controls battery factory in Holland, Mich., which will produce the lithium-ion battery packs that are developed and tested in Glendale. That factory, which is ramping up production, now employs 75 people, with plans to add another 225.

Known for making Diehards, Johnson Controls is the world's leading manufacturer of lead-acid batteries. But it has shifted over the past five years to accelerate its investments in next-generation battery technologies that reduce use of oil and cut tailpipe emissions of greenhouse gases.

As more and more electric cars and hybrids hit the road, the advanced battery market is expected to grow with it, tripling between now and 2020, according to Johnson Controls.

The company completed a renovation of its battery technology laboratory last year. Last month, it completed a 50% expansion of the adjacent testing facility, to 9,000 square feet, that includes oversized machines that conduct life-cycle testing of batteries and full battery packs, seeing how they perform at extreme cold and hot temperatures.

The company said its facility is the largest energy storage technical center in North America.

Millions invested

As part of that partnership, the company is funding an endowed professorship in advanced energy storage that will recruit a top battery researcher to lead a team of engineers and engineering students at the two UW campuses.

Work at the Glendale lab is supporting contracts with Ford Motor Co. and Azure Dynamics, in which Johnson Controls will be making batteries in Michigan that will be used to power TransitConnect all-electric delivery vans.

But a variety of other projects are under way at the lab and testing facility.

"We're bringing a lot of work here to this facility because of the existence of the equipment in this location," said Ray Shemanski, vice president of the company's advanced battery business. That includes work for three Chinese automakers and two European car companies, he said.

Johnson Controls isn't the only firm vying to supply batteries to the growing electric vehicle market. The U.S. Department of Energy supported 20 different facilities through its funding for advanced battery technology research and manufacturing as part of the stimulus package, said Pat Davis, U.S. Department of Energy vehicle technologies program manager.

"There are a lot of big players in the space. Pretty much all of them have a partnership with an automotive manufacturer," said research manager Vishal Sapru at the consulting firm Frost & Sullivan.

What's driving the competition is a projected growth rate that is something to behold, he said.

At a time when economic growth is forecast to be in the 2% to 3% range, the lithium-ion battery market, now a $1.1 billion global market, is forecast to more than double every year, reaching $11 billion to $12 billion by 2015, Sapru said.